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Despite producing an endless amount of albums, going on worldwide tours with HYPOCRISY and various other bands, workaholic Peter Tägtgren still finds time for his pet project, PAIN. As another creative outlet for the HYPOCRISY mastermind, PAIN serves as a fun project with a more mainstream output.

The first few seconds of Cynic Paradise starts off with a keyboard passage eerily similar to the beginning of the self-titled HYPOCRISY album, then continues in typical PAIN fashion with an industrial/metal feel. Aside from the ridiculous song title and lyrics, “Monkey Business” has an aggressive riff attack, and is very HYPOCRISY influenced, but still has enough to distinguish the difference between the two bands. The metal/electronic fusion yields varied results, and tracks like “Follow Me” and “No One Knows” are clunkers which are geared for the mainstream crowd. Cynic Paradise has a few fun party songs, like “Have A Drink on Me” and “Life Fast/Die Young,” and are light hearted songs with good hooks.

“Don’t Care” could be mistaken as a track from HYPOCRISY’s doomed Catch-22 album, but Cynic Paradise ends on a strong note. “Feed Us” is a fitting closer with a nicely added piano piece, and also features NIGHTWISH frontwoman Anette Olzon. Olzon’s voice adds another dimension to balance the harsh downtuned guitars and Tägtgren’s vocals, and thus completes another chapter in the PAIN series.

PAIN can be viewed as an extension of HYPOCRISY without the blast beats and testosterone. Cynic Paradise is still filled with keyboards and the classic “Abyss” guitar tone, while the lyrics are tongue-in-cheek and not to be taken seriously. Open minded HYPOCRISY fans will be open to this as a catchy electronic/metal album. (Nuclear Blast Records)

PAIN, the band featuring HYPOCRISY mainman Peter Tägtgren, will finally make their latest release Cynic Paradise available to North America on June 8th. This version will also feature an alternate cover and a bonus live CD recorded on March 23-24, 2009 at the Zenith in Paris, France during the band’s European tour with NIGHTWISH.

Elvis metal ‘n’ rollers VOLBEAT will tour the US with Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH on their two-week May 2009 U.S. tour. VOLBEAT will be in support of their second U.S. release slated for March 2009 on Mascot Records U.S.A.

PARADISE LOST, the godfathers of gothic metal, have returned with a stunning new offering, In Requiem, which marks a return to the bandâ€™s trademark heavy sound. To get a full impression of this brilliant dark opus, fans can now stream the entire album on the bandâ€™s official MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/paradiselostuk. Note that the album can be streamed only for one week, so check it out now!

The album, produced by Rhys Fulber and mixed by Mike Fraser, is set for a June 5th U.S. release.

Few bands can match PARADISE LOST‘s storied career album for stellar album. Even fewer bands can say they helped found an entirely new genre of music, something these Brits achieved in 1991 with the release of Gothic. As wildly influential as the band has been to acts like HIM and THE RASMUS, they remain as relevant as their modern followers through subtle reinvention and a continued dedication to quality songcraft.

PARADISE LOST will make their triumphant return to the U.S. with NIGHTWISH in October. See below for their complete itinerary.